Lippy Lou's Sourpatch

So I have done a lot of knitting this summer but not a log of blogging about said knits so I thought I would start with my latest favorite! I fell in love with the Sourpatch pattern by Corrina Ferguson when I saw it on the Petite Purls blog. I had been pondering what colors and fibers I would use to make it for some time when along came a forum post about some Dancing Dog Dyeworks mini skeins that someone had placed a special order for. The MOMENT I saw the yarn I was in love and I knew just what I wanted it for, Sourpatch of course. So I contacted Michelle over at DDD and she was up for the job!

I knew with packing the house, packing for the trip and the end of the school year looming, I would not be able to start knitting this up until well after we started our vacation to Alaska, but I also knew I wanted the yarn ready to go so I could work on it while on vacation. Michelle had it dyed up and shipped to me before I left and I got it caked and in my knitting bag ready for the road. And yes I did this well before my clothes were packed. Who needs clothes when you have your iPad full of patterns, yarn and needles right?

So after a near disaster with my first attempt at Gramps, (I made a couple of dumb mistakes and the sleeves were WAY too small on me) I decided to put it aside for awhile and get to work on the Sourpatch. It was just a joy to knit up and watch it come to life. The stripes were so easy, much more so than I had thought by looking at the pattern. For a sweater for a tween this took no time at all, I expected it to take way longer and ended up flying through it! I just love how it turned out and Lippy Lou would have worn it everyday for a week that first week if I would have let her. The proudest moment however, took place this week. Lippy Lou proudly wore her handknit sweater for her school pictures! My heart about jump out of my chest with pride. Gotta love it when your handknits are treasured! Especially by lippy tweens!

Meet Pemberley - Our First Monster Exchange Student

Pemberley came to us from Texas and seems to be having a great time seeing all the greenness of Washington. She was so excited about the trees she just couldn't stop climbing them....

She got a little carried away and almost fell all the way out of the tree.

Luckily for her the girls were right there to catch her and give her some love.

I think she was trying to tell me she would like some tea, so I quickly made her a nice warm cup!

Violet and Viola - Traveling Monsters

When I saw a group of gals over on the Danger Crafts group on Ravelry talking about doing a group of traveling monsters I jumped at the chance to join in. I ended up joining both the domestic and international groups so I made two monsters. My two monsters ended up being twins that I affectionately named after my grandma Violet and her twin sister Viola.

Violet and Viola's first adventure was to see the play Oliver with their human sisters Lippy Lou and Lynner in Seattle. They had a great time and got to ride in a bus and see the space needle all in one day.

On the bus with Lippy Lou

They spied the Space Needle before anyone could show them.

Waiting for tickets at the ticket window.

Lippy Lou and Violet playing around while waiting for the bus to come back to get them.

The sisters sharing a tearful goodbye. Violet headed out to Canada while Viola was on her way to Sunny California, she left just in time too it is awfully cold here in Washington.

And there they go, with their journals so we will get to hear all about their adventures while they are away.

Lippy Lou and Lynner are so excited to meet the new monsters coming our way soon!!

To continue with the knitting theme....

Wow it's been a month, a whole MONTH since I posted last. I have been super busy mothering my 4 munchkins, knitting, playing, traveling, training, visiting, getting ready for school to start. Just to name a few.

My goal this month is to knit five new projects without buying any yarn and so far I am going to make and maybe even exceed my goal. I am hoping to keep this trend up until the end of the year to use up some of my stash. My current goal is to stock up on handmade baby gifts to have on hand for when friends have babies. It seems that every time I turn around someone I know is either really close to giving birth or just finding out they are expecting so I want to get some stuff made up so I am not in a last minute panic to make a gift.

Last month I was given the opportunity to test knit the Girlie Girl dress by Michelle Guilmet-Buck. It was love at first sight and upon completion was I was still smitten. Here is a picture of of my first complete dress, it has made it's way to California to be warn by Emaline who made her way into this world on 8/9/10. What a great birthday!

I loved the construction and ease of this dress so much I decided I needed to make one more. I changed the colors up a little bit this time using my favorite color combination of pink and brown and because I started it in September I used my stash yarn. The pink is from the first dress and the brown was some stash I laying around. This dress will be going in a box to be given as a gift at a late date.

You can find these projects on Ravelry here and here.

Knitting Knitting and More Knitting!

Over the past few weeks I have been knitting A LOT, I love to knit and I love when projects come flying off the needles. Here are some pictures I have taken of the last few projects.

Shrug Bug Set

The yarn used in this set is Spud and Chloe Outer in Rocket. I adore all of Spud and Chloe's yarns and this time was no different. The sweater pattern is by Gina Bonomo and is called....you guessed it... Shrug Bug. This was a quick and easy knit that I will be doing over and over and over again. The hat I just made up the pattern for myself, if you have questions about how I did it let me know! The button was purchased on Etsy @WoodenArtist I really love the buttons in their shop and will use them again!

Bitty Bump Set

This set has the Bitty Bump sweater also by Gina Bonomo which was equally as easy to knit and super fun. It was made with Spud and Chloe Outer as well but this time in the Sunkissed colorway. The hat is also a pattern I just made up on the fly.

When I was out shopping today I found some super cute jeans by Osh Kosh that matched both sets PERFECTLY so I just couldn't pass them up!!

Stay tuned as I will have some other knit items showing up really soon!